


Anger Can Make You Old, Yes It Can

by yuffiehighwind



Series: An Eternity in Cheese Country [12]
Category: Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Xena: Warrior Princess
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-04-23
Updated: 2005-04-23
Packaged: 2018-11-23 12:50:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11402757
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yuffiehighwind/pseuds/yuffiehighwind
Summary: There wasn't ever a god for anger.





	Anger Can Make You Old, Yes It Can

There wasn't ever a god for anger. We all contributed to it in our own small ways. Ares had the whole justifiable, almost righteous _"You will not cross me"_ area covered. Athena would tease him and point out the whiney, petulant strain in him as well, but such commentary was dangerous. When Ares got annoyed he smashed up the place. When he became truly angry, it was a quiet, smothering sort of rage, and the low whisper without his usual amused lilt meant trouble beyond description.

Strife had psychotics covered. I always half-expected to find him laughing at someone as the color of their face turned blue. "Look at that!" I heard him say once, maybe, long ago. "Look how the bastard squirms! Bastard! You don't deserve air!" Then again, I may have imagined it.

Deimos was similar, but the difference was that he got high from _fear_ as a natural physical reaction. It didn't lead to anger, though. The fear god's anger was the sort you see lashing out at perceived injustice. _"I deserve better"_ was a refrain heard from his lips often. Once, I gave him two personalities and hung him from a tree. That was an actual injustice right there, but as I understand it, he spent the time arguing with himself.

Myself, I could feel it simmering before the explosion to follow. Disobedience was the worst trigger and failure the second. It was hard to see the shift in mood from the inside, but Strife told me it was impressively quick. Deimos feared the physical consequences and Ares stirred the flames, emphasizing how anger was a motivating force. If anyone could get pleasure just from observing someone overcome with passionate rage, it was Ares. Bloodlust was his favorite, with bitter complaints the least tolerable. If I were to rant and rave about how I could kill whoever slighted me, Ares would become frustrated and bored and say, "Do it already!" in a voice both irritable and commanding. 

So I used it, like Ares taught me.  _Like Hera taught me._

Everything we learned about hate and greed and envy and spite, we learned from our mother, and we taught it to our sons, and we used it best we could, until the end. 

Until it got us killed. 

**Author's Note:**

> Title is a lyric from the song Anger by Marvin Gaye. The line about Hera comes from S6E8 "Full Circle."
> 
> Originally composed April 2005, revised and expanded July 2017.


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